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Feminism

In my last post, I was very interested in the way that Carrie was being portrayed as a mother and would like to continue with and elaborate on this topic. The first two episodes of season four deal quite directly with Carrie’s new reality as a “mother” and the way in which she is choosing to deal with this life change. Unfortunately for Carrie, and perhaps even her daughter, Carrie continues both be pressured into and pushing against the role of motherhood.

The third season of Homeland becomes an interesting test case in how to present a non-traditional woman like Carrie when she becomes pregnant and will, ultimately, take on one of the most common female roles, that of “mother.” This week, I would like to look a bit at the way that Carrie’s impending motherhood is treated.

Although I admit that I have spent quite a lot of time focusing on the women of Homeland during my time writing through this Homeland rewatch project, I think it is important to understand how a show like this one deals with a strong female lead protagonist and how this protagonist aligns not only with other women in media, but also with other women within the show. As a result, I will be taking up this topic again this week as it relates to the strong comparisons that are coming up between both Carrie and Jessica in the first episode of the third season.

For women in film, the conflict that emerges between family and career often come to a head, disallowing a female protagonist from having the best of both worlds. This has often been the case for Carrie and, with Brody finally leaving his family, Carrie is presented with the option to choose a “normal” family life with the man she has come to love. However, it is made clear that choosing Brody means abandoning the career with which she has been so unabashedly faithful.

Although I could go on in some detail about the interesting parallels of Brody and Carrie and their struggles in navigating the clash of their past and present lives, I was actually much more intrigued this week by the representation of and cooperation among women in these episodes. There appears to be a strong indication that a “community of women” can work together to get things done.